Violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank has escalated after Israelis were stabbed in two separate attacks a Palestinian was killed in clashes with Israeli troops.
An Israeli teenager was stabbed and wounded in Jerusalem yesterday hours after an off-duty Israeli soldier and a rabbi were killed in another stabbing near the Old City. Both attackers were shot dead, an Israeli police spokesman said.
Later on Sunday a Palestinian teenager was shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied town of Tulkarm, in the West Bank.
Almost 400 Palestinians have now been injured and more than 200 have been treated for the effects of tear gas, a statement from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said.
A Christian group promoting peace and reconciliation in the Middle East said that both sides were to blame.
"The fact is that in this conflict, as in most, both sides are wrong," the Foundation for Relief Reconciliation in the Middle East said in a Facebook post.
The group, which supports the work of Canon Andrew White and St George's Church in Baghdad, said they would continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem but that no real peace would happen until "our Mashiach/Messiah returns."
The latest violence was triggered by the decision to bar Palestinians from entering Jerusalem's Old City, which contains the al-Aqsa mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites. Unless they live or own businesses in the Old City, no Palestinian has been allowed in to worship at the mosque.
The recent bloodshed has included a drive-by shooting, killing an Israeli couple and injuring their four, now orphaned, children in West Bank on Thursday. This followed an arson attack which killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents in July.
There are fears that the violence will lead to further military action by Israel as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations with his security chiefs yesterday and is meeting with his security cabinet today.
Outside of Jerusalem, violence also erupted in Gaza where Palestinian militants launched rockets into Israel. The rockets caused no injuries or damage but Israel usually responds to such attacks with air strikes on the Gaza strip.
Both the US state department and UN Secretary General condemned the attacks and called on all sides to restore calm.
